Is GroupDocs.Editor compatible with the Xamarin.Forms project?

pelinkonaray · January 11, 2023, 11:59am

Hello,

I have an iOS and Android mobile application developed with Xamarin.Forms. I am looking for a document editor that I can integrate into this application.

I came across GroupDocs.Editor while searching for an editor.

When I look at the Platform Independence field of GroupDocs.Editor, I see Xamarin.Android and Xamarin.iOS options in the Development Environments options. I also see that there is .NET Standard 2.0+ support as Supported Frameworks. The Xamarin.Forms project is .NET Standard 2.0 so I expect it to be Xamarin.Forms compatible as well.

However, when I include the GroupDocs.Editor nuget in my Xamarin.Forms project, I get the following errors.

Can not resolve reference: System.Formats.Asn1, referenced by System.Security.Cryptography.Pkcs. Please add a NuGet package or assembly reference for System.Formats.Asn1, or remove the reference to System.Security.Cryptography.Pkcs.
Severity Code Description Project Project Rank File Line Suppression State Tool
Can not resolve reference: Aspose.Cells, referenced by GroupDocs.Editor. Please add a NuGet package or assembly reference for Aspose.Cells, or remove the reference to GroupDocs.Editor.

After adding all the relevant packages to fix the errors that appeared in this way, I encountered an error like the one below.

Mono.Linker.MarkException: Error processing method: ‘System.Void /::(Aspose.Email.MailMessage)’ in assembly: ‘GroupDocs.Editor.dll’ —> Mono.Cecil.ResolutionException: Failed to resolve System.Void Aspose.Email.Storage.Mbox.MboxStorageWriter::WriteMessage(Aspose.Email.MailMessage)
at Mono.Linker.Steps.MarkStep.HandleUnresolvedMethod(MethodReference reference)
at Mono.Linker.Steps.MarkStep.MarkMethod(MethodReference reference)
at Mono.Linker.Steps.MarkStep.MarkInstruction(Instruction instruction)
at Mono.Linker.Steps.MarkStep.MarkMethodBody(MethodBody body)
at Mono.Linker.Steps.MarkStep.ProcessMethod(MethodDefinition method)
at Mono.Linker.Steps.MarkStep.ProcessQueue()
— End of inner exception stack trace —
at Mono.Linker.Steps.MarkStep.ProcessQueue()
at Mono.Linker.Steps.MarkStep.ProcessPrimaryQueue()
at Mono.Linker.Steps.MarkStep.Process()
at Mono.Linker.Steps.MarkStep.Process(LinkContext context)
at MonoDroid.Tuner.MonoDroidMarkStep.Process(LinkContext context)
at Mono.Linker.Pipeline.ProcessStep(LinkContext context, IStep step)
at Mono.Linker.Pipeline.Process(LinkContext context)
at MonoDroid.Tuner.Linker.Process(LinkerOptions options, ILogger logger, LinkContext& context)
at Xamarin.Android.Tasks.LinkAssemblies.Execute(DirectoryAssemblyResolver res)
at Xamarin.Android.Tasks.LinkAssemblies.RunTask()
at Microsoft.Android.Build.Tasks.AndroidTask.Execute() in /Users/runner/work/1/s/xamarin-android/external/xamarin-android-tools/src/Microsoft.Android.Build.BaseTasks/AndroidTask.cs:line 17

Can I use GroupDocs.Editor in my Xamarin.Forms project?

Thanks,
Regards.

Atir_Tahir · January 11, 2023, 7:59pm

@pelinkonaray

We are investigating this scenario. Your investigation ticket ID is EDITORNET-2408. We’ll notify you in case of any update.

pelinkonaray · January 17, 2023, 2:38pm

Thanks @Atir_Tahir. Is there any progress on this?

Atir_Tahir · January 17, 2023, 6:13pm

@pelinkonaray

This ticket is still under progress.

Atir_Tahir · January 26, 2023, 3:11pm

@pelinkonaray

Please take a look at this example project - GroupDocs.Editor.XamarinSample.zip (403.8 KB).
To run Xamarin project for GroupDocs.Editor for .Net you need to:

Install additional library (missing dependencies)

    <PackageReference Include="Aspose.BarCode" Version="23.1.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Aspose.CAD" Version="22.12.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Aspose.Cells" Version="23.1.1" />
    <PackageReference Include="Aspose.Diagram" Version="23.1.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Aspose.Email" Version="22.12.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Aspose.Imaging" Version="22.12.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Aspose.Note" Version="22.11.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Aspose.PDF" Version="23.1.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Aspose.PSD" Version="22.12.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Aspose.Slides.NET" Version="22.12.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Aspose.Tasks" Version="23.1.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Aspose.Words" Version="23.1.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Aspose.Zip" Version="22.12.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="SkiaSharp.NativeAssets.Linux" Version="2.88.3" />
    <PackageReference Include="System.Reflection.Emit.ILGeneration" Version="4.7.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="System.Security.Cryptography.Pkcs" Version="7.0.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="System.Security.Cryptography.Xml" Version="7.0.1" />

Configure "{project namespace}.Android"
Please take a look at these screenshots - encoding.png (18.0 KB) and permission.png (13.7 KB).

Let us know if you face any issue.

pelinkonaray · January 27, 2023, 7:46am

Thank you @Atir_Tahir. I tried that works. But I have 2 question.
My first question: I thought I would open files in the editable mode with GroupDocs.Editor. For example like your MVC project. The file is opened with GroupDocs.Editor in the MVC project, files can edit and view by the end user in the your MVC sample. I have expected Xamarin is the same. But as I understand from the example your send, the file is converted to html and displayed in view mode in the xamarin. So it is not editor it is viewer?

My second question: The project is working, but when I open it first, it stays on a white screen. When i open it it second time, it shows ui. This happens every time I run the sample project.

Atir_Tahir · January 27, 2023, 10:16am

@pelinkonaray

We cannot reproduce this issue at our end. We followed steps below:

Downloaded MVC project
Restored NuGet packages
Build and run

As far as first question is concerned, we are further investigating it. You’ll be notified as there’s any update.

pelinkonaray · January 27, 2023, 11:32am

Sorry, I expressed wrong my second problem. There is a white screen issue in the Xamarin project, not the MVC project. I run your send sample in the emulator.
Application react like:
1.When I run from the visual studio, it stuck in the white screen.
2.If I run the project from the visual studio and when I close it from the emulator, there is occured an error.
3.If I run the project from the emulator, it runs with no error.
I recorded screen. If you watch you can understand clearly. (I couldn’t upload it to here because of the video size. I uploaded it the drive. Could you download it from following drive link)

Thank you for support.

Atir_Tahir · January 27, 2023, 12:36pm

@pelinkonaray

Thanks for the clarification. We’ll further look into this scenario.

pelinkonaray · January 27, 2023, 1:46pm

Thank you, I am aware of second problem can be fix. It is no problem for now. But editor is important for us. We are looking for editor. I look forward to hearing from you about whether GroupDocs supports this.
Thanks.

Atir_Tahir · January 27, 2023, 6:06pm

@pelinkonaray

GroupDocs.Editor is a document editor API, for document viewing purpose we have a GroupDocs.Viewer. The sample project we’ve send you is intended to show that GroupDocs.Editor works in Xamarin, it’s compile-able and runnable . But it’s not a fully functional solution which allows to edit files “from the box” - it’s just a minimum viable sample.
As you know, GroupDocs.Editor is a UI-less and works with HTML, like Google Docs - it converts a document from original format to HTML/CSS and then you edit its content in your WYSIWYG-editor in the browser. Take a look at this documentation article. And here how it works (and what can be achieved) with our UI.

However, this issue is still under investigation.